The Descent
by xx Veren
Summary: The six apprentices of Ansem the Wise destroyed all that was dear to them in their journey into darkness. Yet not all journeys are the same; this is Ienzo's story, from the very beginning, to the legendary, disastrous end.
1. Family

**A/N**: I finally got the story up! Lawd, this has been sitting on my computer for about a month or two and I finally got some motivation to start writing it as well as fix up this chapter.

Anyway, I'm mostly writing this story to develop how Ienzo descended into darkness - how and why, really. The apprentices have always interested me as well, they're actually one of my favorites (and pretty damn mysterious if I say so myself. We dunno' what really happened, still!) And Ienzo interests me the most, because how the hell did a little boy become .. well, Zexion?

This is more or less a prologue chapter - an introduction into his life before everything went to hell. The second chapter is almost done!

* * *

A warm breeze lazily swooped in from the east, filtering through the leaves of the enormous trees of the park, who themselves were finished blooming and giving off the last scents of spring. The wind tugged with warm fingers at the boy's light blue hair, making him raise a hand without thinking and shuffling the disarrayed spikes to line them back in place.

Ienzo leaned back into the smooth wooden bench more, rolling his shoulders slightly to get into a more comfortable position. He hated waiting, he really did. Most boys of his age were impatient, and the nine year old was really no exception.

Anxiously, his light blue eyes flickered left and right, eating up any small scene that flitted in his line of vision. The old duck was selling oddly colored ice cream bars as usual, while a blonde woman was laughing at something the older boy next to her had just said – Ienzo presumed him to be her son. Growing bored of watching them the boy glanced to the dizzying amount of flowers to his left, admiring silently the intricate colors.

He reached out to touch the tempting petals, feeling the smoothness of them. Ienzo smiled to himself, wondering if he should get some for his mother… unless, of course, she'd disapprove of him of "stealing" from the park.

"Ienzo!" A voice suddenly rang out through the familiar mull of the thin crowd, and the boy immediately let go of the flower and looked in the direction the voice had come from.

A man, perhaps around his early thirties, parted through two younger boys that had been eyeing the old duck's ice cream. He had smooth, straight hair that, when not tied in a small ponytail, went to his shoulders, and was a very light silvery blue. The older man's brown eyes lit up with a smile as Ienzo waved and, readjusting the extremely thin pair of glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose, he waved back before coming up to the boy.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting," the man expressed quickly, smiling apologetically. The boy shrugged, looking away from him and then at the flowers again. "Master Ansem needed someone to finish the lab reports."

"It's okay, dad, I didn't really mind," Ienzo lied, and after studying the flowers for the final time, looked back at his father and smiled happily. "Maybe you can take me in the lab again?"

Samuel frowned slightly, straightening up and rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, it's a bit too dangerous, bud. I don't think it'd be safe."

"You just don't want me to knock over anything."

"Like last time."

"It was an accident!" Ienzo argued, the boyish smile quickly replaced by a scowly huff. "Really, I _promise_. It's not _my_ fault it fell on Even…"

Samuel fixed Ienzo with a stern stare, eyes sharpening. Ienzo silently challenged back for a moment with his own eyes, but quickly lost the mental battle and looked away. The boy twitched with surprise when his father started laughing in good humor.

"That was pretty funny," Samuel admitted, the grin stretched wide across his face. "Even's face was priceless." The scientist paused, his eyes widening ever so slightly, before looking hurriedly at Ienzo as if he had just had a revelation. "But don't tell him I told you that. That man gets angry so easily."

Ienzo laughed, getting up from the bench. "Yeah. I don't think he likes me a lot," the boy admitted. What he would never admit was that he didn't like Even a lot either, but he figured that his father already had assessed _that_ situation, and had never said anything about it. At any rate, Ienzo and Even's mutual dislike for each other was usually known by anyone who saw the two together – Even would usually snap or glower at the little boy while Ienzo just either wouldn't listen or would purposely do what Even didn't want him to.

Samuel usually ignored the little charade in an attempt to keep _some _peace.

Samuel's smile twitched, but he shrugged soon after and waved his hand dismissively for further pronunciation. "Oh, Even's only jealous of you. I can't always spend time at the lab because I'd rather spend it with you rather than four other … crazy individuals. Not counting Master Ansem, of course. He's the most sane out of all of us."

"Well, I don't think you're crazy, dad," Ienzo said in his father's defense, and Samuel laughed lightly.

"Thank you, Ienzo. I hope I'm not crazy," the man responded with a small smile. "But it's hard not to be when you're around _those_ guys. I mean, you are who your friends are, as that old saying goes."

The boy said nothing, but indicated he was listening with a small shrug as they started walking out of the park and into the main street. Like the rest of the town, the walls of the buildings were encased with a fine coat of creeping ivy and delicate flowers fluttered in the dying breeze. The duck had left, but the two boys Ienzo had seen earlier were still hanging around, and the redheaded one punched the blue one on the shoulder. The nine year old twitched, looking away. What kind of fun was that?

The boy glanced up at his father, who was looking up at the sky with a wary expression. Curiously, he looked up as well, seeing that the sun was setting and casting a brilliant shiny sheen of reds and violets and oranges cascading over the horizon and filtering over the buildings. Already light was seeping away.

"We better hurry home," Samuel suggested, his pace quickening somewhat. "Don't want to be caught out here in the dark." A swift glance and strained smile at his son heightened Ienzo's sense of suspicion.

"Why? What's wrong with the dark?" Ienzo asked innocently, obviously confused. He thought it was rather peaceful, especially when the moon was full and lit up the trees outside his bedroom. It always made little shadows on his walls, and the boy always imagined them to be the mythical creatures from his stockpile of books.

He didn't see what was so bad about it, but his father's expression seemed odd.

"Oh, nothing, buddy," Samuel said hurriedly, glancing keenly at a darkened alleyway as they passed it with swift steps. "Let's just get home."

* * *

"Mom, we're home!" The door swung closed on its own with creaky hinges as Ienzo bolted into the house, Samuel following right behind him. The boy slipped through the small entrance hall, which was cluttered but familiarly decorated with framed pictures of anything ranging from school photos to old newspaper clippings, before taking a right into the widespread living room. The walls were painted a cool gold color, which radiated both a lively and homey feeling to the room, especially, Ienzo thought, when it was daytime out and the paint caught the sun.

Two enormous wooden bookcases stood guard at the back wall, and stacks upon stacks of books were shoved into every available cranny they could fit. Stacks of papers lay from tall, cautious stacks on Samuel's bookcase – research, most likely. His own collection of books was in complete disarray, with absolutely no order or organization in the way they were sprawled about. Ienzo's bookcase – he had staked his claim on it a while ago – was the complete opposite of his father's. On each row the books were placed first by subject – fantasy, science fiction, what-have-you – and then put alphabetically. He cherished every one of them, and furthermore, whenever a visitor came over and somehow ended up by that particular bookcase, Ienzo always watched with hawk eyes to make sure that _nothing_ was touched.

In the middle of the room was a rather large leather couch, and sitting there drinking a steaming cup of tea was Ienzo's mother. She was a petite woman in her early thirties, roughly the same age as Samuel, with straight, light brown hair and grey-blue eyes, and nearly always her lips were curved in a small, kind smile that seemed to be permanently etched on her face. She had a sort of lightheartedness about her, whether if it was by the way she spoke or the way she looked at you, and many people felt she was an easy person to speak to.

"Hi Mom!" Ienzo exclaimed cheerily, flashing a grin before rushing over and embracing her. She quickly moved her hand holding the tea away so it wouldn't spill, as Ienzo had apparently forgotten she was holding it, before smiling and wrapping her free arm around him and squeezing him with an appreciative hug.

"Hi, honey," she replied, ruffling up his hair affectionately before setting down her tea on the side coffee table. "How was school?"

"Fine," Ienzo said quickly, trying to avoid the subject. She fixed him with a suspicious look, and he smiled hurriedly. "I promise."

Hesitantly she looked away and at Samuel, who was standing behind Ienzo. The look in her eyes immediately changed – she raised a brow and leaned more into the back of the couch. She looked somewhat skeptical, really.

"I thought you'd be back by nine, Sam."

The man stared for a moment, shifting his weight from foot to foot uneasily as if he was desperately looking for some viable excuse. "Well, Master Ansem-"

"Master Ansem wanted him to finish some reports so he did because he's a really good scientist," Ienzo said quickly, eagerly hoping to settle the situation as well as show off his knowledge. Samuel glanced at him for a moment, nodded, then looked back at his wife.

"Exactly what I was going to say," the scientist said. The woman hmmed quietly to herself, like she was trying to decipher if they were both bluffing or not, before Samuel laughed good humouredly, went over, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Come on, Evangeline, you know we're telling the truth," he said teasingly, and his wife smiled and laughed, too, before kissing him.

"It's too easy to trick you sometimes, Sam," Evangeline responded, her voice light and humorous.

Ienzo was ignoring their entire conversation and had wandered over to his bookshelf, dreamily scanning the titles and wondering which one to read (again). His eyes focused in on a worn down aged binding that lay loose from the orderly conduct of the rest of the books. The time worn words _Alice in Wonderland_ were scrawled on the side, and as he reached to grab his favorite book, he heard his father walking closer.

"You have to go to bed. It's way too late for you to be up, 'enzo," Samuel said, and Ienzo sighed loudly, his hand dropping to his side with great emphasis.

"It's only _nine_, dad," the nine year old grumbled, his face lowering into a pout in an attempt to sway his father's decision on the matter. Samuel took one look at time, raised a brow then chuckled in amusement, shaking his head.

"That's not gonna' work on me. And your bedtime is 8:30," the scientist responded cheerily. "So go upstairs."

Ienzo sighed loudly. "'Kay."

Samuel reached out and took a hold of one of Ienzo's shoulders, pulling him closer. With a quick motion the man hugged his son and ruffled his hair good-naturedly.

"Night, kid. Love you."

"Love you too, dad," Ienzo responded, then walked around his father and quickly hugged his mom. "Love you too, mom."

Evangeline smiled and hugged him back. "I love you too."

Ienzo flashed them with a childish smile before turning and walking through the living room while covering a loud yawn with his sleeve. After leaving the room, the boy took a deep breath and trudged a couple paces before pausing before the first step of the staircase. He really did wish he could have read before he had to go to bed.

Oh well.

Ienzo climbed up the stairs with slow, lumbering steps that showed obvious signs of tiredness. The rest of the walk to his room was a foggy blur, and soon enough he found himself opening the door to his room.

With suddenly quick motions, he changed into his pajamas and grabbed the stuffed animal that sat waiting in the large armchair on the side of the room, his precious red fox that he'd had for ages, and flung himself into his bed that lay by the window. As he snuggled into the blankets and let his mind drift, his slowly failing eyes watched the moonlight stream in from the window and shine into his room like wisps of silver.

As he fell asleep, Ienzo thought of how much more he liked the night more than the day. So much calmer… so much more mysterious. It enhanced the imagination – what lurked behind those swirling shadows? What might one find when standing under the moon?

How nice it would be to have it be night all the time, he thought, and then the boy's eyes closed into a deep slumber.


	2. Fire

Ienzo awoke to the smell of smoke.

He had been dreaming in a deep sleep when his scent was marred with the acrid smell. The intensity of it was so strong, the boy immediately awoke, inhaling deeply only to erupt in racking coughs as even more smoke stifled into his lungs.

He was too tired to make sense of the situation, his mind muddled and confused as he squinted his watering eyes to protect them from the sensory onslaught. The scene before him was grim – the entirety of his room was filled with smoke that had been snaking under the cracks of his doorway, and the thickness of the stuff was building.

Smoke.

Ienzo's mind sharpened immediately as an instinctual drive kicked in. Smoke meant fire. There was a fire in his house!

His tiredness forgotten, the nine year old quickly scrambled out of bed after grabbing his stuffed animal and bolted to the door, quickly shooting a wary eye to the smoke that continually seeped out from the door. He didn't hesitate to open the door.

A large cloud of smoke billowed at his face, and he lifted an arm to cover his mouth from its curling fingers that so eagerly swam around his head. Ienzo coughed again, desperately, and his former instinctual adrenaline was quickly transforming into panic.

What if he couldn't get out? What about his parents?

Ienzo's eyes widened in alarm. He hadn't even thought about them, and he kicked himself mentally before glancing at their doorway. He cried out in dismay when he saw that it was encased in bright red flames that were eating up the wood, the paint peeling off in disastrous, elegant strips and melting from the intense heat where the fire licked it.

"DAD, MOM!" Ienzo screamed, his voice sounding broken and scared. When the only answer was the splintering and groan of wood as the snapping fire disintegrated it, the boy started forward for the room.

Abruptly an arm was put around his mouth, and Ienzo's body jolted as he let out a muffled yelp. He struggled for a moment, but the arm loosened its grip slightly.

"Ienzo, please, calm down! It's Dad!" Samuel reassured. His voice was strained, his tone that of someone who was trying to keep calm but failing, like cracking ice. Nevertheless, Ienzo felt an enormous amount of relief.

"Dad, t-the fire—"

Samuel's arm tightened around Ienzo's mouth, stopping him from speaking. His eyes conveyed such anxiety the nine year old didn't protest.

He had never seen his father so scared.

"I know, 'enzo. It's everywhere. I don't know how.." Samuel trailed off, then started coughing, putting his free arm up to his own face. "But we need to go, _now_. The smoke'll kill us before the fire does. And keep your arm over your mouth!"

With a quick motion Samuel slipped around Ienzo and took a hold of his hand, and began more or less dragging him for a surprised moment on Ienzo's part before the boy started running with him. He still didn't understand how this was happening. Yes, he understood the fact that there was a fire in _their_ house. But why? How?

As they bolted through the burning hallways, the fire's heat was becoming more and more intense. It was everywhere, destroying everything, and leaving nothing. When he thought they had escaped it, there it was around a corner, or creeping on the ceiling as it burned from the upstairs. Ienzo's panic only grew, and at one point he whimpered loudly enough for Samuel to glance back in anxiousness to check if he was alright.

"It's okay, Ienzo, just follow me, and we'll get out of here… Your mother should be out already!" He called back, and then they turned the corner that began leading to the main hallway.

The two swiftly went down the hallway that went to the main entrance of the house.

Abruptly behind them, there was a loud groan, then a crack. For a moment there was silence, and then, slowly at first and suddenly swift, the stairway collapsed in on itself, followed by huge shards of burning plaster that hurtled like comets into the ground.

Samuel took that as an excuse to get the hell out of there.

They passed the living room, but Ienzo slowed down for a moment to look inside. The fire had swept its way through the room, the furniture now charred, pathetic heaps.

Ienzo suddenly noticed what the fire was destroying now, and again he cried out in dismay. His books were burning. All of them.

"My books!" The boy yelled loudly, tears prickling his eyes. Samuel looked inside the living room, then at Ienzo, his eyes sad.

"I'm sorry, Ienzo, but we can't stop for them," he said quickly, though he truly sounded disheartened and tired.

Ienzo attempted to stay and even try to get into the living room, but his father dragged him away powerfully, and after awhile, the boy's struggling stopped, and in a depressed state he began following his father again, tears now spilling over his eyes in small rivulets, but he didn't make a sound.

Turning to pull Ienzo forward, another even larger splintering noise sounded above them. Before they could even react, the ceiling of the hallway collapsed, slamming into the ground with enough force and heat that the two stumbled back. The once supporting beams were set aflame and disintegrating before them, and ultimately blocked their way out.

Samuel stared wide eyed at the fiery pile of disaster, backing up a step or two in disbelief.

"Dad?" Ienzo asked frantically, his grip on his father's hand tightening. "Dad, what now?"

The scientist opened his mouth to respond, but another voice interrupted.

"Sam!" Evangeline yelled. They both looked in the direction of where the voice had come from, and Ienzo's heart seized as he saw his mother in the room they had just left, the room the stairway had collapsed in with her arm over her face. But the way her eyes were dulled, the boy realized she was getting weak, most likely from the assault of smoke.

Ienzo noticed his dad now looked extremely frantic, which didn't help the boy any, as it just made him even more scared.

"Evangeline, I thought you got out!" Samuel shouted.

She shook her head quickly. "I-.. the fire.. was blocking my way.. here.. I tried to get out through the.. side door.. it was.. blocked too," she responded, sounding weaker every time she uttered a word.

Samuel stared at her, his eyes wide and panicked. Ienzo realized that his mother was blocked by the stairway and couldn't come to them, and even if she did manage to make her way over her, they were trapped, too.

Samuel took a breath, closing his eyes. There was a moment where the only sound was the varied sounds of the fire, and then, suddenly, Sam turned to Ienzo, letting go of his hand and putting both of his on the boy's shoulders.

"Ienzo, listen to me carefully," the scientist said, his voice sounding urgent. "You need to go through the pile of the ceiling and _get out of here_, alright?"

Ienzo balked. He couldn't even comprehend what his father was saying. Go _through the wreckage_ alone?

"B-but Dad, it-it's blocking the way," the nine year old stuttered, and he took a shaky breath. Samuel's lips set into a strained thin line, and the grip on his son's shoulders tightened.

"You can slip through that small opening on the left near the wall. See it?" Samuel quickly pointed at it, and Ienzo merely glanced, grimacing when he realized his father was right, and there was an opening he could get through.

"But you and m-mom—"

"I'm going to get to your mom and we'll follow right behind you, okay? Don't worry," Samuel replied, sounding confident.

Ienzo stared for a moment, trying to scour up same small scraps of bravery that he did not have. Samuel smiled reassuringly, and the boy swallowed nervously, trying to blink away the tears that threatened his face yet again.

"O-okay. But y-you guys gotta come right after I go, okay?" Ienzo said, voice quivering. Samuel responded with a tight smile.

"Of course we will. Now go!"

Samuel lightly pushed him towards the opening. Ienzo looked back at them one more time anxiously. His mother waved him on with a tired smile. The boy smiled back and turned away.

Ienzo slipped through the wreckage.

Behind him the roar of the fire was hellish, and he heard even more of the ceiling collapse. He flinched as it hit the floor, and just to make sure, he glanced back, though his vision was limited as the wreckage blocked most of his view. He said a small snippet of his father jumping over the blockade to get to his mother before the smoke obscured everything.

Dizzily, the nine year old turned away, instinct telling him to keep moving. Gripping onto his stuffed fox, he touched the door knob. It burned intensely, and with a surprised yelp, Ienzo tore his hand away and looked at the angry burn on his fingers.

Instantly he began to feel faint, and realized he had taken a large gulp of smoke when he yelped from the burn, and even now he was drinking in huge amounts of smoke as he desperately tried to gain comfort from the heat and was only met with subtle suffocation. There was no air. No oxygen.

Ienzo slowly began to panic again, but his mind was becoming foggy and sluggish from the lack of clean air. Slowly, he put his sleeve over his hand to protect himself from the burning metal, placed his hand on the door, and opened it.

The blast of fresh air from outside was enough of an enticement for him to get enough energy to trudge a couple paces away from the burning death trap that had once been his home.

He was vaguely aware of people rushing towards him, and barely reacted when strong hands gripped onto his shoulders and pulled him hurriedly away from the door, then picked him up. The boy coughed once or twice, his entire body shaking with the effort, before he looked back at the house.

Fire spurted everywhere in great gushes of red and yellow and orange, lashing the night air with angry whips. Most of the roof had collapsed inward, and the house seemed to literally radiate from the inside out, like an image of a contained hell.

"M-my parents," Ienzo managed to say groggily to the man who was holding onto him and was taking him farther away from the house and to the blaring red lights of a box-like vehicle. "My d-dad went to get.. my mom.." The nine year old took a quick breath. "P-please, someone ha-has to go.. in and.. save them!"

"We're going to try our best," the man replied.

"Please.. you have to.." Ienzo mumbled, his vision starting to darken. He felt himself being put down on something, then a plastic device was put around his face and fresh oxygen was poured into his mouth. Still his vision darkened.

Ienzo slowly looked back. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was his house aflame in the dark night.


	3. Orphan

**A/N:** I am finally done with this damn chapter. GOD I hated trying to _motivate_ myself to write this chapter. I just don't know why it was so awful for me to write. I like how it came out all in all, but gosh. I kept getting side-tracked and writing the future chapters of the story and ignoring this one.

But anywho. Hope ya'll like it. It's a bit of a bummer.

* * *

He hated the smell of hospitals.

The too-clean scent practically burned his nose, and the alcohol smell didn't help with the sting, either. It was unnaturally clean.

So all in all, when Ienzo woke up, the first sense to come into "consciousness" was his sense of smell.

His mind had slowly started to wake at first. It felt like a thick fog was coating his brain, blurring and deleting all rational thoughts and instead replacing them with confused and hazy fragments – his emotions mirrored his mind. Tired, befuddled.

He hadn't even attempted to open his eyes yet. In all honesty, he didn't really want to, or hadn't even thought about doing it.

But the moment that his brain registered that awful, powerful smell, the fog lessened so abruptly that one eye immediately opened.

However, accompanying the bitter smell were the too bright lights, and with a groan the boy quickly shut his eye again, taking comfort in the darkness.

For a moment he lay there, trying to get used to the smell and organize his thoughts. For one thing, he had no idea why he was in the hospital. What had happened? He took in a deep breath, trying not to cough-

Ienzo's eyes snapped open and he shot up frantically in the bed.

Cough.

Smoke.

Fire.

The nine year old's breath became panicked. The fire! His parents had still been in the house…

Before he had even time to yell the door of the room opened and a man in a white coat came in. He was average-looking - short, dark brown hair and a small goatee, with large solid shoulders. His eyes, blue and sharp, were trained on Ienzo, his expression softening to something the boy thought to be sadness, or worry, or pity.

The doctor (or at least, Ienzo thought him to be one, based on his outfit) opened his mouth to speak, but the boy cut him off, impatient and afraid.

"My parents were in my house!" He exclaimed, hearing his voice crack with trepidation, as well as notice it was hoarse and worn. A sudden cough took over him, and the nine year old shook for a moment while it passed. It was nothing - not as violent as the coughing fits that he had had from the smoke in the fire.

The doctor paused for a moment, then opened his mouth to say something.

"They're okay aren't they?" Ienzo rushed out, unable to stop himself. His bright blue eyes were wide and anxious, and a swell of panic began to build in the pit of his stomach. Tendrils of it began creeping up to his heaving chest as the doctor said nothing. But his eyes told everything.

That had to be okay, Ienzo thought to himself. They had to have gone through the back entrance of the house to escape the flames and smoke. They were fine. His dad had _said_ that they would come right after he had gone out of the house.

Of course they were fine.

But the doctor's eyes challenged that self-assuring claim.

Slowly, cautiously, the doctor took a step or two towards the bed Ienzo was sitting in while he fixed a sleeve on his coat and cleared his throat quietly. The only real noise in the room was the heart monitor that beeped in tune with Ienzo's rapidly beating heart.

"Ienzo," the doctor said, with a calm, yet sympathetic, saddened tone of voice, one that made the boy's blood freeze, "I'm afraid your parents... did not survive the fire."

The boy felt his heart stop.

It was as if the entire world had darkened. The white room around him dimmed, focused on nothing, as if all the intensity from the lights had been sucked into this intense pain that had been brought in his heart so quickly he felt like he was about to faint.

This couldn't be true.

His parents ... his family.

They couldn't be just... _gone. _

He shook his head to himself, although he felt disconnected from his body altogether. No. He couldn't believe that the people he loved most were dead.

He had just _seen them._ How _could_ they be gone?

"No," he heard someone say from a faraway place. Only a moment after did he realize it was himself who had said it.

"I'm so sorry, Ienzo," he heard the doctor reply.

The pain in his heart, pushed back by the stubborn denial, surged forward with a new vehemence at the doctor's words. They were really gone. Burned away from his life like they had never existed.

The boy's body curved forward subconsciously, arms snaking around his midsection as if they could squeeze this horrifying, mind-numbing pain away from his heart. His legs pulled partially up near his chest and with a motion of defeat, his head went limp and laid to rest its forehead on his knees.

He would never... see them again.

Each heartbeat was followed by a shock of anguish. No pain in the world would ever be compared to this.

His hands gripped onto the back of his shirt tightly, and with an agonized gasp Ienzo began to sob, his head still leaning on his knees. The nine year old cried so hard his body shook violently.

It hurt... so much...

He wanted it all to go away... he wanted them to come back.

But nothing would ever make them come back.

And while the pain became even more desperate, more agonizing, his vision continued to darken. And he welcomed the darkness.

Anything to make this nightmare to go away.

He fell into a grief-induced sleep, his body no longer able to stay awake from the overwhelming dejection.

* * *

Ienzo had awoken sometime later, exhausted and depressed. The doctors had kept their respectful distance while the nine year old cried until he couldn't anymore.

Ienzo, himself, could care less about the doctors or what they were doing. Where the stinging pain had been was replaced by an emptiness that was as bad as the anguish was. He felt only a deep misery - not like the sharp bite of the initial torment, but rather a fathomless, smoldering feeling that burned every flicker of good feelings.

All there was was sorrow.

While his face was slack and emotionless, his emotions being dealt with on the inside rather than out, the pain was mirrored deeply in his eyes.

Two days later, still not having spoken a word since the awful news, a doctor came in to inform him he was healthy - physically. He had escaped the fire with only minor burns on his hands. Ienzo had watched her with an uninterested gaze. What did healthiness matter to him now?

The real reason the hospital continued to keep him there was that the legal paperwork was still being taken care of. Ienzo, with both parents dead, was now an orphan, and with no relatives to speak of, he had no where to go.

But of course, there was an orphanage.

Finally everything was taken care of. The dejected nine year old would be staying at the orphanage, run by a middle-aged woman named Angela.

The lady came for Ienzo the following day. She had very light blonde hair, tied back in a loose bun, with smile creases on her face. Average height - nothing out of the ordinary for her, except the essence of calm she radiated from being with kids all day. It seemed to be a needed commodity.

"Hello Ienzo!" Was the first thing she said to him when entering his room in the hospital.

He stared back at her gloomily, offering not a single word as he sat on the edge of the bed, dressed to go. He was holding onto his stuffed fox which the fire fighters had saved for him, though one of its ears was a bit burned off.

"Are you all set to go?" She asked when he didn't say hello back.

Silence.

"I'll take that as a yes," she continued cheerily, smiling, obviously not phased by his stoniness.

She waved him out of the room, and they soon walked out of the small hospital together.

It was a beautiful day. It was hard for a day _not_ to be beautiful in the paradise that was Radiant Garden. The flowers, in all their brilliant colors, seemed to almost shine in the sunlight. There was a fountain in the middle of the small plaza, the water sparkling like diamonds, and a butterfly whisked near Ienzo with quiet laziness. The weather was warm and comforting - perfect. Everything was perfect.

But to Ienzo, it all seemed grey now.

The emptiness had only gotten worse. He knew exactly where he was going. And as they walked down the quaint cobbled streets, listening to the song birds and the twinkling of the fountains, he felt like he couldn't care less about how pretty the flowers looked, how gorgeous his world was.

It didn't matter anymore. No beauty could ever help his sadness.

* * *

The orphanage was nice. It was constructed in sunset-like colors like most of the rest of the town, but was rather small. No wonder. Nothing bad usually happened to any family here, so Ienzo's entire family being destroyed was sure to have upset the entire community.

Angela showed him to his room. It was small but comfortable, and he had the privilege of having it all to himself. He couldn't _bear _thinking about having to share it with someone _else_.

It really was a sad sight, though, to see a nine year old stand in an empty room holding nothing but a stuffed animal. The house had burned to the ground, and nothing remained, save some scraps of metal, so he had no belongings.

No belongings, no house, no family.

Ienzo closed his eyes and took a deep breath as Angela left the room to leave him to his own time. So this was it - the harsh reality of it all. Though he had been in a dream world - a perfect family, a perfect life, it had been snatched from him in mere moments, like it was nothing of importance. And now here he was, with nothing. The emptiness in his heart grew, and with it, his deep personal despair.

While at the orphanage, Ienzo made no move to make friends or to speak again. The counselors would come, but all their efforts to pull the boy out of his grief-induced shell were in vain, and ended in such failure that after a while, the majority of the counselors left and only one remained, who every week tried and tried again to make the kid utter one single word.

"How are you feeling today, Ienzo?" She'd ask, her voice very soft and very friendly, a voice you would use to speak to a frightened animal. And then Ienzo wouldn't even bother lifting his head from his book, but gave her a passing, emotionless glance that paused on her face for a moment or two before returning to the novel, whatever it was. To him, that was a fine reply.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" Was also another favorite of the woman's. Ienzo didn't even look up from his book at that question, and when he wasn't with a book, he'd just stare at her, wordless. And then she'd try and ask him some more things, or she'd just talk conversation with him, and then after an hour of this and still not a word from the boy, she'd say goodbye and leave.

And that was that.

Other than the feeble counseling that did absolutely nothing, Ienzo secluded himself in his room and read and read and read. Angela supplied him with a lot of books, too, and while it was not as wonderful as his old bookcase, the one that had burned into ashes, it was still okay.

And that's all he really did. Read.

The books, all in all, let him go somewhere else and forget about his agony. He couldn't bear to live in this awful reality where everything he had ever known was gone. Dead. And it was never coming back, no matter how hard he wished it would.

Books were his only escape. Other realities were his only escape, and it seemed at times like his only option. He had always been highly intelligent and imaginative, and pretending he was somewhere else wasn't difficult.

All he needed was a good illusion.

He tricked his mind into thinking he was really somewhere else. The boy's imagination ran wild, as it was his only mental defense to protect himself from the pain. The images in his mind's eye became so lifelike and so vivid, that he really did believe that it was real.

He forced himself to believe it was real.

He became incredibly skilled at it. One moment, he was trying to be counseled or talked to, and the next, he was immersed in a new place. Everything else – every sound, every person, in the reality he never planned to visit again, was blocked. His imagination took him to far better places. His mind became amazing at conjuring up illusions for him to escape to.

Sometimes he even thought about making illusions for the _counselors _to go into so they would just go away.

And with these made up images Ienzo tried to forget about his grief. It was one reason why he never spoke. Not only did the shock and sadness of his parents' death strip away his voice, but the fragile line between reality and his own made-up realities might be broken if he even uttered one word. Not that he ever planned on speaking one word, at any rate. He didn't even know if he could even if he wanted to.

And speaking to someone in the real reality would make the illusion of _his_ reality shatter, and once again would he have to live in the life that had been stripped of him.

Sometimes, when he wasn't in his illusions, he wished he had died with them. After all, his old life was dead… nothing would ever be the same.


	4. Ansem

_But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself.__** Is everything sad going to come untrue?**__ What's happened to the world?"_

Step, step, step.

Ienzo's eyes flickered away from the novel to stare curiously at the door as the heavy sound broke his spelled reverie. Apparently someone was walking down the hallway, which was an uninteresting piece of news in itself, although these footsteps were not Angela's quaint, butterfly heels but powerful, confident ones. The boy tilted his head, still curious, before deciding it wasn't worth his time to wonder about and so looked down ravenously to his book to devour the rest of the words on the page.

"_A great shadow has departed," said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music-_

The door opened. Ienzo stiffened immediately, his eyes mirroring his rock-like appearance to display a lack of emotion. His mouth became a dull straight line, the hardness of his gaze looking queer on his soft, boyish features.

The nine year old raised his eyes from his book a bit, just to catch a quick look of whoever had dared enter his room, something that individuals rarely did.

The hardness from his face flickered a bit in unprepared astonishment, though the façade of emotionless indifference quickly regained control.

Ansem the Wise, "ruler" of Radiant Garden, stood before him and regarded the boy with pleasant smile. He practically radiated off friendliness, and again, for a moment, Ienzo's thick shell wavered weakly. He sat bewildered, but eagerly welcomed the light feeling Ansem was giving off – the man hadn't even spoke one word yet and Ienzo was already affected by his warm presence.

"Hello Ienzo," Ansem said, the ever-present smile on his face becoming a bit bigger as he greeted the youth. Ienzo, as usual, said nothing, continuing to prefer silence to words even in front of Ansem. But to show he was listening, the boy watched him, not realizing the rigidity in his light blue eyes had all but evaporated and was replaced with curiousity.

Why was he, of all people, here? To visit _him_? Yes, he had worked with his father (Ienzo inwardly winced at the thought of his late parent), but other than that, there was really no need for Ansem to come to this place.

The boy watched as the blonde looked around his room, studying his tidy bookcase that had proved to be too small from the amount of novels he had acquired, and thus had books spilling out from the sides, books on stacks on the floor, and some sitting on the top. All the while, Ienzo was studying him. He had strangely amber eyes – like fire, yet not the hungry and destroying kind, but rather the comforting kind - smoldering, brilliant, and warm. He'd never seen eyes like Ansem's before, and continued to stare at them until suddenly the ruler of Radiant Garden's focus came back to Ienzo rather than the room, and quickly the nine year old averted his gaze before sneaking his eyes back up to look at Ansem once more. He even smelled like fire – or, rather, a fireplace after it's been put out. It was a homey and comforting smell, and Ienzo immediately liked it.

The man's eyes flickered briefly to the book Ienzo continued to hold onto before his red eyes looked the boy straight in the face. "May I ask what you're reading?" He questioned lightly, sounding curious. Ienzo balked for a moment. No one ever seemed interested in what he was reading, and so the question caught him off guard. Silently, he closed the book, delighting in the musky smell the worn pages gave off as he did so, and turned it so the cover faced Ansem.

**LORD OF THE RINGS**

**RETURN OF THE KING**

Immediately Ansem's smile grew. "Ah, good choice. One of my favorites."

A twitch of a smile suddenly appeared on Ienzo's face. Not a full blown smile, however, as if the muscles that had once supported such things were out of practice.

Which they were, in all seriousness.

Ansem's eyes wavered on the boy, apparently pleased at the reaction he had gotten out of him, small as it was. Slowly, with patient steps the older man neared the bed Ienzo was sitting on and sat on the side, far enough away that it gave Ienzo his own space.

Their eyes were fixated on the other's and there was a small pocket of silence among them before Ansem spoke again in his rich, royal voice.

"Ienzo, I think you would make a great addition to our family," he said simply.

Ienzo stared. What was he implying? The boy's head tilted slightly.

It was obvious he wasn't going to get an answer without speaking. And if what he thought what Ansem was trying to imply was true… then he had to get an answer. Now.

There was an almost mental strain on him then as he attempted to literally force himself to speak. All those months of not speaking to a single soul had taken its toll. His voice was nonexistant. Though he had no use to speak, there was a mental block that forced him not to, in general.

The boy's eyes shut for a second in concentration, and he forced the mental block away for now. His mouth opened as well as his eyes, and once again he looked at Ansem.

"..F..famil..y?" He asked. The sound of his voice seemed alien to him. It was very silent and somewhat hoarse from its lack of use. It was strange talking after all this time of silence. But for whatever reason, he was comfortable with talking to Ansem.

Ansem nodded. "Yes. Myself, and the rest of my apprentices."

Ienzo stared for another moment. He knew of course they weren't a literal family by blood.

"Does that include Even?.." Ienzo asked, his voice still silent as a whisper. If Ansem meant _all_ of his apprentices, then that included Even. And Ienzo was not a fan of Even.

"Hm?" Ansem leaned in a bit closer, obviously not catching the boy's question the first time.

"Does that include Even?"

A blank look was fixated on Ansem's face before the question finally dawned on him as well as the implications. Immediately he laughed, a really warm one that in itself made Ienzo smile a bit more.

Apparently Even's grouchy behavoir wasn't only directed at the nine year old.

"Yes, yes I suppose that includes Even," Ansem chuckled.

Oh, well. Ienzo guessed there was a bad side to everything.

Ansem got up from his seat on the bed then, and turned to him.

"I must leave now, unfortunately," he said, sounding a bit regretful. Ienzo frowned a bit, unhappy with the fact he was departing so soon.

Seeing the look on his face, Ansem continued, "I'll be back to visit you very soon, Ienzo. We'll set up your room at the castle, and once everything is ready, you can come home."

Ienzo smiled at that, and nodded silently. Ansem smiled back.

"I shall see you soon," he said, and just as quickly as he had come, he was gone, as well as the warm light he had been giving off, like a fire put out.

Again Ienzo was alone, although this time in his seclusion, he felt better than he had in months. He was finally getting a home.

* * *

Ansem frequently visited him at the orphanage, and Ienzo achingly longed for another said-visit every time the man left. It was so nice talking to him. He opened up. He smiled. Once he even _laughed_, although it was a very small sound.

And finally, _finally_, one day Ansem came into his room, beaming, and said to get his things, because today he was moving to the castle.

It hadn't taken very long. He took a couple of his favorite books and his fox, which was the extent of his belongings. Ienzo had said goodbye to Angela, who, knowing that the little boy was no more a fan of being hugged, settled on smiling happily and showering him with goodbyes, be happy, and all those pleasantries.

The walk to the castle had been a quick one and finally, they were there.

Ienzo was astounded at the size of the place. The inside was as grand as the outside. There was looping corridors, beautiful furnishings, and as they passed one hallway, the boy caught a small glimpse of a high-tech machine before it disappeared from sight. There was just too much to describe, and he immediately loved it.

They climbed a short flight of steps before being greeted by a large hallway. Ansem walked a couple of strides before turning and opening the door to one.

"This is your room," he announced, and Ienzo looked inside. It was a lot larger than the one at the orphanage had been – there was a comfortable-looking bed with dark blue sheets, a desk facing the wall, and a large bookcase. The nine year old smiled, undeniably happy with it.

"Make yourself at home," Ansem said, looking down at the boy with a kind smile. "Then you can come meet the others." He patted the boy's shoulder in an affectionate way before walking off to give Ienzo some privacy.

Ienzo went and put his stuffed fox on the bed, and then his small collection of books on the middle-bottom shelf (he couldn't reach the higher shelves). He glanced slightly out of one of the large windows that were shining brilliant light into his room and was pleased to find they overlooked a large garden. Everything was great. Everything was perfect.

He knew he'd been adopted by Ansem as his own son, of course. Now alone he smiled a real smile, enthralled and deeply happy. He wondered briefly what would have become of him if Ansem hadn't adopted him. No one really wanted to adopt a "problem child," the same way some people don't want to adopt a cat with three legs or a blind dog. So would he have spent the rest of his childhood there, in the orphanage, until he was no longer allowed to stay?

Ienzo supposed that Ansem had saved him in more ways than one.


	5. Saved

_A/N: Wow I updated! I'm sorry for the wait – I've had a lot of schoolwork and this chapter, for whatever reason, I had a lot of trouble writing._

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* * *

_

"Hand me that – no, not _that_ beaker, the _other one_," Even ordered, sounding crankier than usual. Ienzo sighed, grabbing the container gingerly with his small hands and giving it to the blonde before letting himself steal a glance out the window.

It was a beautiful spring day in Radiant Garden; it really was true that this season was when the world really shone. The flowers were brighter and even more plentiful as they swayed dreamily in the calm wind that flickered through the city, and the weather was impenetrably crisp and light. And of course the songbirds were rarely interrupted, barely drowned out by the regular day-to-day business of the city and its people. And then there was the fountains and their constant twinkling and even from the window Ienzo could just see, if he strained his eyes, the surmount of one of the bigger fountain's cascades, and the way the sun shafts hit it to make rainbows…

The boy withheld a sigh, and instead turned back to look at the experiment Even was conducting. There would be no "outside time" today – maybe not for a while. Ienzo idly remembered the reports that continually filed in of strange, alien creatures that had begun appearing in the city – Unversed, they called them. Ansem had immediately begun investigating, of course, and the moment he'd heard of attacks via the monsters, he'd told Ienzo to stay inside while the whole thing was sorted out.

The boy had begged and pleaded and used every ounce of the power of his puppy-dog eyes to attempt to sway his master but to no avail. The worst part was that with Ansem so busy trying to take care of the monsters, he'd placed Even in charge of Ienzo, seemingly unaware of the mutual annoyance between the oldest and youngest apprentice.

Otherwise, it had been a couple of months since Ienzo's adoption. He'd been introduced to all of the apprentices and guards who had accepted the nine-year-old's presence with a variety of different reactions, with Ienzo accepting them differently as well. Braig, with his brash, loud behavior, tended to make the nine year old uncomfortable; Dilan and Aeleus were alright – they were both rather stoic and down-to-business people and a tad bit boring; and then of course there was Even, who was annoyed with the nine year old's very presence the moment Ansem had told his apprentices that the boy would be staying with them permanently.

It had been a bit awkward at first, but the apprentices had become used to the boy's company and Ienzo became used to theirs'. And then Ansem had given Ienzo his own lab coat for the boy's tenth birthday (the smallest he could find, and even then the bluenette had to roll up the sleeves) and told him he was an apprentice, too, and Ienzo had literally beamed for the first time in a while and had taken his new title to heart despite the fact that he wasn't allowed to help in the "main" experiments and only help, like he was doing now.

Ienzo shook himself from his thoughts just in time to notice Even's back was turned to him and craned over two beakers as he carefully watched some sort of reaction. The boy stared for a moment before his rock-hard gaze sliced slowly over to the door that led to the Outer Gardens. He looked back at Even, who was still crouched over the beakers, then back at the door. A smile threatened to flicker on his face, yet his façade of emotionlessness prevented the action. Slowly, cautiously, he stepped one step backward. Two. Three. Each continual step was calm, and then suddenly he was at the door and without a moment's hesitation he grasped the handle in his eager hands and opened it before slipping out into the fresh air.

* * *

Finally he was free to do whatever he wanted. With a self-satisfactory sigh, Ienzo meandered slowly through the small, quaint gardens while enjoying the fresh air. He loved experimenting – but with Even, he was only a lackey whose participation was limited to giving the other scientist the materials he needed.

Another sigh escaped him, but this time is was more grumbling and irritated and his brow creased downward into an agitated expression that mirrored the sound. Even. What an idiot! He was glad he'd escaped, though he wasn't sure how long this trek would last. Would the blonde bolt after him like a hound on the hunt when he'd discovered him missing? Or simply ignore it?

He was so deep in his thoughts he did not realize he'd reached the central square. A ring of houses and the like surrounded the somewhat circular area, and in the middle was a lowered section of the tiled pavement with flowers and small fountains ringing around it. Ienzo stared at the area for a moment, then looked up to see that one of the many entrances to the Castle, though gated, was on the opposing side of the place.

Ienzo shrugged, thinking nothing of it, and descended into the lowered platform. At least he would see Even first if the blonde came through that exit.

He reached the middle of the depression. Perhaps he should head back—

_WHOOSH_

A sound slinked up from the earth itself, and Ienzo flinched, caught off guard. A black, inky, swirling substance had abruptly appeared right in front of him. The boy stared wide-eyed at it. He was not afraid, but curious.

But then another of the black spots appeared, and another, and another.

Abruptly, like waking beasts, a column of dripping darkness shot out from the ground where the spots had been and reformed into strange angular creatures. They were a little bit bigger than a dog, and much less organic looking than one. With alien red eyes and each appendage ending with a sharp point, their bodies jerked back and forth as if moved by a hyper puppeteer.

The problem was, there were a lot of them. And they were all staring at Ienzo.

Ienzo just stared back. They weren't really that frightening, he decided. They looked odd with their dark navy bodies and pupil-less eyes, but were not exactly… _scary._ Were these what was causing Radiant Garden so much trouble?

He turned his head left and right, and realized then he was surrounded - at least from the front. Well, as _un-scary_ as they were, they had attacked people, and he knew better to judge a book by its cover alone. The only probable option, he decided, was to leave, even though he truly was curious about them…

The only difficulty in his sound reasoning was that he didn't know _how_ to leave. If he backed up, would they attack him? A flicker of fear flared in his heart, but he tried to shove it away. There wasn't any time to be scared right now.

Again he scanned their ranks, thinking, torpid…

A flash of movement to his right appeared, a blur of yellow and white and other earthy colors. An older boy, seemingly out of nowhere, had leapt to his side with a fierce and determined expression.

"Run!" The blonde instructed, and at that instant a shining blaze of light burst from the boy's hand and was soon replaced with an artfully beautiful metal weapon, oddly shaped like a key. Ienzo, however, had no time to stare – with a quick nod, he turned and left the scene to join the safety of the outer wall.

From there he watched the mysterious boy leap at the Unversed with an uncanny agility, seeming to blur from his nimble actions. A quick sweep of the blade here, a swift jab there, and two of the creatures had dropped, disappearing to darkness before they even had a chance to fight back.

The other two were quicker to react. They leaped at the blonde, but he was too quick for them; in one blow he devastated them both, and they too vanished.

Ienzo began to relax, as the battle seemed over. But then even larger Unversed appeared, and the boy's eyes really widened this time. These, although larger, were a mixture of absurd and frightening - the demonic being the vulture-esque creature that flitted against the wind, circling the blonde, and an even larger version of the smaller Unversed the boy had just killed with razor, gloved hands, and the absurd being the enormous, blown-up creature that lumbered aimlessly around the battlefield and flying Unversed, blue and red, shaped like pots.

_Pots_.

Ienzo stared. Who in their right mind would make a creature shaped like a _pot_? Pots did not instill terror, although the boy idly thought that maybe possessed, flying ones that spurted lava and ice might.

Maybe.

Again the boy turned his attention to the blonde. The teenager seemed unfazed by the newer creatures appearances, as if expecting it, and soon began to cut them down as well, shining light flashing, fire erupting, beams of radiance exploding after many of the attacks. He was ferocious in his determination to eliminate the enemies, but graceful doing so.

And then suddenly the creatures were gone. After the killing blow by the blonde to the bird Unversed, no more came to attack, and the teen stood triumphantly in the center. The blade disappeared in his hand, much to the dismay of Ienzo, who had wanted to see it up close.

"Ienzo!"

Oh, no.

"Where are you? Answer me!"

The bluenette sighed under his breath while his emotionless face kept its mask. Of course Even had to find him _now,_ of all times! That was just his luck. Dislike bubbled in his chest as he caught sight of the elder scientist on the opposite side of the square. Well, might as well accept his fate. Feeling dully defeated Ienzo descended into the lowered platform as Even did the same.

"Ah, there you are. Didn't I warn you not to wander off, child?"

Mentally, Ienzo scowled – physically, his face didn't betray any of his annoyance. _Child_? He couldn't talk to him like that!

Even reached Ienzo, only stopped his long, sloping gait until he was in reaching distance of the ten year old, no doubt preparing to snatch the boy if he tried to bolt.

Ienzo held back the urge to kick him in the shins.

Even stared at him for a second more before turning his green gaze to the blonde, who had been watching the duo with silence.

"I see we owe you our thanks," Even commented graciously, his tone diplomatic.

"We have done our best to raise the boy, since his poor parents are not here to do it," the scientist continued, and his tone had lilted into a pitying, sad one.

Ienzo didn't flinch, though a dull pain throbbed in his chest for a small beat or two before dispersing into the depths of his heart. He was suddenly even angrier at Even than before – why would you share that with this stranger? Sure, this teenager had saved him, but that was hardly a reason.

The only thing was that Even's tone really had seemed sincere. Odd. Of course Even and Ienzo's father had been friends… but still.

The older boy's bright blue eyes quickly glanced to Ienzo. "Oh. You're on your own, huh?"

… Obviously.

Ienzo didn't speak, per usual. Just stared.

The other boy apparently noticed his muteness and after a moment turned his attention back to Even. "Sir, I'm looking for a friend of mine. He's a tall guy kinda dressed like me. Have you seen him?"

"Hmm… Perhaps I did see him in the Outer Gardens," Even mused thoughtfully. "Just follow this road." He subtly pointed out the decorated opening on one end of the bricked square. The boy's eyes brightened.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed thankfully.

"No, thank you," Even replied, a slightly amused tone in his voice, "for keeping Ienzo out of harm's way."

Even's tone shifted again as he turned sideways to depart – it changed so many times that Ienzo was beginning to question his dramatics.

"And… well, let's just say I have a feeling we are destined to cross paths again," the scientist said cryptically, one of his hands lifting to hover in front of his face in a posture of thoughtfulness.

The teenager suddenly looked startled, managing to emit a confused "Huh?" before Even turned his back and began walking to the Castle gates.

Ienzo took that as his cue to follow him. The ten year old's bright blue eyes lingered on the other's as he slowly pivoted to leave. He wondered who this boy was and who he was looking for; he wondered about the key shaped blade that had appeared out of thin air, and the armor on the boy's shoulder, and he even noticed the odd metal symbol on the boy's jacket – what was it? A heart of some kind?

Of course he would probably never get these answers, but there was no way he was ever going to forget this. So maybe if Even's strange "prophecy" did come true, he could both thank this stranger properly and question him…

Which would never happen.

_Thank you_, Ienzo thought then, as if the other boy could hear his thoughts, and finally broke away his gaze and turned to follow Even to the Castle.


End file.
